Roseberg helps North Central escape with win
Take Charles Rosenberg out of Saturday night's men's basketball game and Wheaton College probably would have upset 10th-ranked North Central.
But the Thunder never could take Rosenberg out of the game.
The senior forward out of Fremd High School in Palatine scored 27 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and filched 4 steals in the Cardinals' 75-70 overtime victory at King Arena in Wheaton.
"He hit a couple of shots, gets an offensive rebound putback, he does a lot of different things for us," Cardinals coach Todd Raridon said.
"He's a great player," Thunder coach Mike Schauer added. "Tough kid, great player."
The Cardinals (13-1, 3-0 CCIW) started well, leading 19-9 midway through the first half. By halftime the Thunder cut the Cardinals' lead to 30-26.
The Thunder (7-7, 0-3) played determined, confident basketball in the second half, taking a 62-55 lead with 4:18 to play. But a Rosenberg free throw sent the game to overtime tied at 64.
"It wasn't looking very good for a while for us," Raridon said.
In overtime Rosenberg's layup with 2:10 to play gave the Cardinals their final lead, 69-68. He assisted on Jayme Moten's 3-pointer to make it a 4-point lead, then added a layup.
"Our kids, they didn't give up," Raridon said. "They got up 7. We had a couple kids step up, hit a couple of 3s to get us back in the game. They missed a couple of shots at the other end, which obviously helps because they were shooting lights-out there for a while."
Meanwhile, the Thunder couldn't shake its recent streak of bad luck.
"I'm thrilled with our guys," Schauer said. "I'm just disappointed. We can't catch a break. We've had the toughest 10-day stretch I've ever had as a coach. We had two guys (Luis Miller and Riley Teuscher) tear ACLs in about a six-day period of time, and the emotional weight of that has been hard for our team.
"We had back-to-back games and we play like this against Illinois Wesleyan and now North Central and just can't buy a break. Can't make a shot with the game on the line, can't get them to miss a one with the game on the line, can't get a call to go our way. Yeah, pretty disappointed."
In the women's game, the 13th-ranked Thunder handed the No. 24 Cardinals their first loss of the season, 100-86.
Hannah Considine scored a game-high 36 points and grabbed 21 rebounds for the Thunder (13-1, 3-0 CCIW), which led 49-36 at halftime. Ellie Zeller added 11 points, and Katie McDaniels and Moriah Reeves had 10 apiece.
Tess Godhardt led North Central (13-1, 2-1) with 16 points, Emily Zgoda and Maryssa Cladis had 12 each and Naperville Central graduate Jamie Cuny scored 11 and grabbed a team-best 8 rebounds.
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